U.S. patent number 3,952,629 [Application Number 05/549,575] was granted by the patent office on 1976-04-27 for small arms silencer.
This patent grant is currently assigned to The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army. Invention is credited to Jack Boccarossa, John S. Post.
United States Patent |
3,952,629 |
Boccarossa , et al. |
April 27, 1976 |
Small arms silencer
Abstract
A small arms silencer utilizes a transversely perforated biased
piston mer, moving in a vented, perforated, housing, to temporarily
contain projectile blast gases in a sealed-off area. The trapped
noise producing blast gases are released through a valve in the
housing at a rate and frequency which makes the blast noise level
inaudible. Barrel movement compensation is provided by a
combination of an impulse of gases acting against a closed end of
the housing in opposition to a counter force generated by the
moving piston on the other end of the housing.
Inventors: |
Boccarossa; Jack (Rock Island
County, IL), Post; John S. (Scott County, IA) |
Assignee: |
The United States of America as
represented by the Secretary of the Army (Washington,
DC)
|
Family
ID: |
24193556 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/549,575 |
Filed: |
February 13, 1975 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
89/14.4 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41A
21/30 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
F41A
21/00 (20060101); F41A 21/30 (20060101); F41C
021/18 () |
Field of
Search: |
;89/14R,14B,14C,14D
;181/64B |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Bentley; Stephen C.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Edelberg; Nathan Gibson; Robert P.
Yarmovsky; Max
Government Interests
GOVERNMENTAL INTEREST
The invention described herein may be manufactured, used and
licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without
the payment to me of any royalty thereon.
Claims
Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new
and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States
is:
1. A small arms silencer for reducing the muzzle blast gas flash
and barrel compensation which comprises:
a "T" shaped hollow tubular housing having a partially closed front
end, a partially closed rear end, and a tubularly shaped
transversely positioned integral middle muzzle member which
slidably fits on a muzzle barrel, the wall of said tubular housing
having an exit orifice therein axially aligned with said muzzle
member and said muzzle barrel, said wall having a longitudinally
positioned keyway groove therein;
a split plastic restrictor fixedly positioned in said exit
orifice;
an adjustable relief valve fixedly positioned in the front end of
said housing;
means for releasing said muzzle blast gas from said housing at a
frequency which is inaudible, said means being fixedly attached to
the rear end of said housing and which communicates therewith;
piston means slidably positioned in said housing for allowing a
projectile to pass through said piston means and said housing when
said means is in an "open" position, for closing off said exit
orifice of said housing after said projectile has passed through
said housing, for providing barrel compensation, and for blocking
the view of said muzzle blast gas flash; and
spring means for returning said piston means from a "closed"
position to said "open" position to permit use of said silencer on
a rapid automatic fire weapon.
2. A small arms silencer as recited in claim 1 wherein said means
for releasing blast gases comprises a gas release valve which
produces sound waves at a frequency higher than 15,000
cycles/second.
3. A small arms silencer as recited in claim 1 wherein said piston
means comprises a hollow tubularly shaped piston member having a
closed end and an open end, said piston member having a pair of
diametrically positioned piston orifices therein, said piston
member having an integral longitudinally positioned alignment key
thereon, wherein said key slidably engages said keyway groove.
4. A small arms silencer as recited in claim 1 wherein said spring
means comprises a biased helical spring.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Various means have been used in prior art small arm silencers to
attenuate muzzle blast noise, reduce barrel compensation and muzzle
flash. The problem with prior art devices which use baffles or
choke tubes to deflect and break up the shock wave has been that
the level of noise attenuation was generally of a low order. In
addition the use of baffles or choke tubes generally did nothing to
provide for muzzle compensation. Those prior art devices which use
taper slots or grooves in a housing to ventilate the propellant
gases as they leave the muzzle and to break up the symmetrical
configuration of the shock wave, are generally inefficient in noise
reduction, do not completely prevent the gun flash from being seen,
and do not provide adequate barrel compensation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a small arms silencer which
utilizes a perforated piston-housing combination to allow a
projectile as it exits from the muzzle to freely pass through the
housing and the piston while restricting the gases behind the
projectile. The restricted gases are forced to temporarily remain
in the housing. The expanding gases move the piston within the
housing which then closes off a hole in the piston wall which was
initially concentric to an exit opening in the housing. When the
exit to the housing is sealed, the sealed residual muzzle blast
gases are bled off at a controlled rate through a valve which
reduces the blast noise by changing the gases exiting frequency to
an inaudible range. A split neoprene restrictor located in the
projectile exiting hole in the housing prevents the initial blast
gas flash from being observed. The impulse of gases acting against
the end of the housing and against the piston acts as a barrel
compensator to improve the firing accuracy of the weapon and in
addition provides for quick response to target re-engagement.
An object of the present invention is to provide a small arms
silencer which attenuates muzzle blast noise.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a small arms
silencer which attenuates muzzle blast noise and compensates for
barrel movement caused by muzzle blast gases.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a small arms
silencer which attenuates muzzle blast noise, compensates for
barrel movement caused by muzzle blast gases and reduces the amount
of muzzle flash.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a combined
small arms silencer barrel compensator and flash suppressor which
is inexpensive to manufacture.
For a better understanding of the present invention, together with
other and further objects thereof, reference is made to the
following descriptions taken in connection with the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The sketch shows a partial cutaway isometric view of a small arm
silencer attached to a barrel muzzle.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the sketch a "T" shaped, cylindrically shaped
hollow housing 10 has a partially closed front end 12, a partially
closed rear end 16 and a middle tubular muzzle connection member
14. Fixedly attached to the front end 12 is an adjustable needle
type relief valve. A muzzle barrel 18 is slidably fixed to muzzle
connection member 14. Relief valve 20 which is connected to front
end 12 permits air to enter into or escape from the front volume 22
at a controlled rate. Volume 22 is located in the housing 10
intermediate the closed end 24 of cylindrical piston member 26 and
the front end 12 of housing 10. Piston 26 has an open end 25 which
abuts housing rear end 16. A helically shaped piston return spring
28 is biasedly positioned in volume 22 intermediate piston closed
end 24 and housing front end 12. The housing rear end 16 has a
blast gas release valve 30 fixedly attached thereto which bleeds
off blast gases at a controlled rate and frequency which is
inaudible. A valve for releasing gas at frequencies from 15,000 to
30,000 cycles/second such as used and manufactured by La Pine
Scientific Co., 6001 South Knox Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60629,
Catalogue No. Y-41270. Piston 26 has a longitudinally positioned
alignment key 32 thereon which slidably engages a longitudinally
positioned housing keyway groove member 34. When piston 26 is in an
"open", "pass-through" position two transverse diametrically
positioned piston orifices 36 and 38 are in axial alignment with
housing exit orifice 40 and muzzle barrel 18. Housing exit orifice
is covered with a split plastic restrictor 42 made of such material
as neoprene.
In operation, as the projectile 44 exits the muzzle barrel 18, it
passes through the housing 10 and through the piston 26, and then
out through the split neoprene restrictor 42. As the gases enter
the housing 10 and expand, the increase of pressure in the housing
10 causes the piston 26 to move toward the housing front end 12 and
in so doing compresses piston return spring 28. As the piston 26
moves, the piston orifices 36 and 38, which were concentric to the
housing exit orifice 40, move with respect to the exit opening 40.
With the projectile exit 40 now sealed, the muzzle blast gases are
now contained in a pressurized, vented housing. The muzzle blast
gases are bled off at a controlled rate through release valve 30,
which reduces the blast noise by changing the gases exiting
frequency to an inaudible frequency range. Concurrently, the
impulse of the gases acting against the housing rear end 16,
through piston open end 25, in opposition to the impulse acting
against the piston closed end 24, acts as a barrel compensator,
thus improving firing accuracy. Piston energy upon final stroke
imparts energy opposite to the force acting against housing rear
end 16, thus aiding in returning the weapon bore into target
alignment. The device thus offers quick response to target
re-engagement. The return spring 28 forces the piston 26 fron its
"closed" position back into the "open" position after the pressure
in the piston decreases to the point where the spring force
overcomes the gas pressure.
Since all of the hot gases do not mix with the air immediately,
only a minimal flash is produced. Because relief valve 20 is
adjustable by calibrated adjustment screw 46, and because piston 26
weight and spring 28 strength can be varied, the device can
compensate for lot to lot impulse variations, changes in weapon
caliber and environmental conditions.
While there has been described and illustrated specific embodiments
of the invntion, it will be obvious that various changes,
modifications and additions can be made herein without departing
from the field of the invention which should be limited only by the
scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *